Monthly Archives: January 2007

It’s finally time to get the ball rolling on my 2007 pre-wedding cut after 3 months of maintenance and slow bulking. I won’t kid you–it’s been an uncomfortable learning experience getting my metabolism back up to the point where I can maintain at 2200-2400 calories/day while working out about 6 hours a week, but I’d say the weight gain was worth it. Never have I been SURE what my maintenance level actually was. I just sort of assumed that it was around the average 1800 or so usually given for women. Without this baseline information, I have probably been going much lower than I really needed to during my fat loss cycles in the past.

Anyhow, I am launching the first part of my cut following the guidelines below. I’ll be checking off each day in this challenge in my spiffy Daily Compliance Grid on Google Docs. Daily check in posts are fine when I have time to make them, but oftentimes when I cut I eat exactly the same thing every day, so it’s easier and more motivating for me to see a whole bunch of meals and workouts checked off in a grid with a “1”, especially since I also added fields to calculate percentage compliance.

I am Nerd. Hear me Roar. :whistle:

(On the off chance that anyone reading this would like to set up their own Compliance Grids or Fat Loss Calculator spreadsheets with measurement logs, you can download the Diet and Exercise Compliance Chart and V.4 of my Fat Loss Calculator in MS Excel .XLS format and import them into your own Google Docs account so you can edit them online from any computer and share your most personal stats with the entire world. What fun, eh?)

January 21 – April 30:
1. Start cutting following TT diet guidelines with a starting daily intake of 1800 cal/day until goal body fat of 15% is reached (~130-134 lbs based on current stats of 145 lbs and 21% bf). According to my fat loss spreadsheet (view on Google Docs – Starting and bi-weekly measurements will also be updated on this sheet), this should take me approximately 90 days.
2. Stay at same daily intake level as long as 1.5-2 lbs are lost every two weeks. Reassess every 2 weeks and decide if another 250 calories per day need to be cut.
3. Use TT for Women weights/core/HIIT program M/W/F.
4. 30 minutes with personal trainer T/Th with shoulder/back/arms emphasis.
5. 30 minutes of additional general exercise (cardio, Yourself Fitness, P90X, yoga, walking, Forza, whatever) T/Th, 60 minutes on Saturday.
6. Sundays completely off.
7. If I choose to do another 5k, T/Th/Sa will be used for training runs.
8. Cheat meal 3x a week in February, 2x a week in March, 1x a week in April.
9. Post progress photos and stats every 2 weeks.

I caught this on one of my favorite cheapskate deal sites and thought I’d pass it on to fellow Amazon shoppers.

Amazon.com is running a promotion right now for their Amazon Prime shipping membership which gives you free 2-day shipping or $3.99 overnight shipping without a minimum purchase requirement on any merchandise shipped by Amazon.com. (Items sold by third party merchants are not eligible.) The membership price is still $79, but you will receive a $50 e-coupon in your Amazon account that can be applied toward purchases made from the Amazon Grocery area of the site.

So if you are a frequent Amazon shopper and have need of any of the products sold in their Grocery store (which includes vitamins, mineral supplements, diapers, and personal care products as well as food) in the next year, this is a pretty decent deal. Amazon ships quite a lot of items free with their Super Saver Shipping, but there is a minimum $25 purchase for SSS and it can take quite a while for items to arrive this way.

Yup, yours truly has racked up another year of life as of yesterday. I celebrated by organizing the January company potluck lunch on my birthday, cannily tricking my co-workers (most of them ardent foodies and pretty good cooks) into turning out a massive birthday spread of fabulous homecooked good eats for me.

As usual, there was a lot of gorging by all, followed by a few hours of food coma drowsiness, groans, and belly pats.

I love potluck day!

The only reason I wasn’t stuffed to the epiglottis like everyone else was that I had to save room for a steak dinner with Chris and my parents at 7:30 that night. We went to Fleming’s Wine and Steak House in Winter Park and had some fabulous aged steaks that cost as much APIECE as a full two weeks’ worth of healthy eats on my Cheapass Challenge–I kid you not. If Mommums hadn’t had a $100 gift card awarded to her from American Express for the place, I would have thrown up a little bit in my throat thinking about the price of my surf ‘n’ turf special. 😆

I received a beautiful dressy watch, a Slinky fabric skirt, and a check to help offset the cost of the wedding from my folks, and a free slice of blueberry cheesecake in honor of my venerable years from the restaurant. Having already partaken of two slices of Key lime pie that day, I wasn’t in the mood for any of the desserts on the menu, so I chose the cheesecake for Chris.

My last cheesecake experience in December (a Key lime pie cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory) was altogether not conducive to my wanting any more cheesecake ever again. Did you know that half of one cheesecake sans Lactaid can cause a lactose intolerant individual’s lower abdomen to swell by over 10 inches?

I didn’t either, until last month. Ouch.

Never again.

Ever.

Anyhow, back at my parents’ house, I blew out a single candle on a Publix chocolate Strawberry Delight cake and managed to find enough room for a small wedge. I was pretty much finished for the night at that point. The thought of more food was :yuck:.

Chris and I headed back home and there he revealed my last spiffy birthday present:

A Weider weight bench with a leg extension, preacher curl station, and rack that can be adjusted for bench press or squats. He’d already put the Powerblock barbell he got me for Xmas on it.

The bench is used, but in fantastic condition from Play It Again Sports.

I got word through the newsletters of two of my favorite fitness writers, Tom Venuto and Craig Ballantyne, of an upcoming teleseminar series that will feature one hour interviews with the following exercise and diet experts:

Dr. Joe Vitale, author of the Attractor Factor and featured in the hit movie, The Secret, reveals the keys to using emotional awareness to control your physical health and to achieve any type of body that you desire.

Tom Venuto, author of the bestselling Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, pulls out all the stops to reveal exact bodybuilding techniques you can use now to achieve extremely low levels of body fat.

Jon Benson, author of Fit Over 40, unveils his mindset and strategy for fitness at any age and heâ€™ll share stories from his team of *former fatties* (including himself) who have completely transformed their bodies.

Rob Poulos, creator of the Fat Burning Furnace system, will give you his 7 Forbidden Secrets of Permanent Fat Loss & Fitness. He’ll reveal how to create an environment inside of your body that will almost magically burn fat while building muscle, strength, and endurance simultaneously and permanently – all in just minutes per week.

Kelli Calabrese 2004 Online Trainer of the Year, reveals why women are failing at fat loss, including the challenges of puberty, pregnancy, menopause, aging, fat distribution, hormones, and genetics. Then she will bring you the proven solutions to mastering your metabolism and attaining a Feminine, Firm & Fit Body.

Alwyn Cosgrove, author of Afterburn, will teach you about real world fat loss, and will expose the lies that have been perpetuated by the billion dollar weight loss industry.

John Allen Mollenhauer, founder of Performance Lifestyle Systems for the non-athlete gives you a step by step roadmap on how to increase your energy, optimize your health, and improve your personal performance with his breakthrough 7-Step Performance Lifestyle Formula.

Dr. John Berardi, creator of Precision Nutrition system, reveals the metabolic blowtorch that burns off belly fat like magic. Dr Berardiâ€™s metabolic breakthrough targets your metabolism in 5 different ways to give you the ultimate metabolic boost. Rev your metabolism up immediately â€“ at any age.

Joey Atlas, World Renowned Fitness Expert and Personal Trainer, reveals simple strategies you can use immediately to overcome obstacles and bust through the excuses that have kept you from achieving your ultimate body time after time.

Kyle Battis, founder of Home Gym Secrets, unveils exactly how to build a home gym quickly, easily and inexpensively that delivers better fitness results than any commercial gym.

David Grisaffi, author of Firm and Flatten Your Abs, shows you how
to quickly shrink your waist line and develop a stunning set of six-pack abs.

To get notified when each interview will take place and get the call in information, sign up at My Ultimate Body Makeover. The teleseminars will be starting up soon, so hook yourself up before you miss out on this nice freebie. The organizer will offer podcasts or MP3s of the interviews at a later date, but he plans to charge for them.

Once you sign up you will receive a confirmation email to let you know that you are on the notification list for the teleseminars. You will also be shown a “But WAIT, there’s MORE!” style “secret upgrade” offer that will include MP3 recordings of all 12 of the interviews as well as some nice bonus items, including two Turbulence Training workout manuals (8 week DB/Bodyweight Fusion and 4 week TT for Women), a Precision Nutrition “Strategies for Success” document that covers the basics of PN, and the Gourmet Nutrition DESSERT cookbook in PDF format (This is NOT the full Gourmet Nutrition cookbook–just the dessert special) for $97. ($97 seems to be a popular amount for ebook programs sold online, eh?)

But I digress. Just realize that you don’t need to order the upgrade package in order to access the teleseminars live.

Wednesday I only walked 1.5 miles but I stayed clean on food. Thursday I felt so much better that I did 30 minutes of shoulders with my trainer, 30 minutes of YF flexibility, and 30 minutes on the treadmill. I am also hungry again. :biggrin:

I should be completely over this cold by Monday with enough nutritious food and sleep.

I should mention that between the cold and the increase in cardio, I have dropped down to 142-143 lbs, even with TOM. This is pretty much how much I weighed in May 2004 before my first BFL challenge, so I plan to take a comparison photo this weekend just to show what the difference between 143 lbs/27% bf and 143 lbs/21% bf really is for those who still gauge progress by scale weight.

From January 11 (Thursday) through January 15, get 40% off your total purchase at Footlocker, Footaction, and Champs Sports with the following coupons, good for online and in-store purchases. Go through Ebates.com or Fatwallet.com first if you are shopping online to get additional cashback bonuses.

I cancelled a session with the trainer this morning because I still felt too zonked out and brainsore from Nyquil and receiving only 25% of my usual oxygen intake overnight to lift heavy stuff. I am going to do some yoga tonight instead.

Aside from the need for extra sleep, inability to breathe properly, perpetual migraines, low energy levels while working out, and extra expense for cold medication and tissues, this cold is absolutely killing me because I just discovered a site called SingShot.com, the karaoke fanatic’s version of YouTube, and I am too stuffed up and cough-ridden to sing, record, and post anything!

:whistle:

Well, maybe I can croak out some “Dreams” Stevie Nicks-with-a-stuffy-nose-style. We’ll see.